During an appearance on the 'Ellen Degeneres Show', he said: ''I just sort of lost my head for a little while. I did some kind of dumb interviews and that woke me up.

''I don't even remember having a Rolling Stone cover. It was a very strange time and it sort of rocketed me into adulthood. It was a violent crash into being an adult. For a couple of years it was just figuring it all out and I'm glad I actually stayed out of the spotlight. Because I think back then I would of said, give me two weeks or like let me get out and do Ellen and let me explain myself. It was like, 'No, idiot.' Go away be 33 and 34 instead of 28 for the fourth year.''

So John, 34, quite Los Angeles and moved to Montata, where he is still living as he continues to recover from vocal surgery and focus on his songwriting.

He explained: ''I can't sing, so I'm writing. It's a thing in my throat. It's not a health concern whatsoever, but it has taken me out of singing. Tried to beat it the first time and couldn't. What they actually do is they cut this thing out of your throat and then they inject your vocal cords with Botox which freezes your vocal cords so that this thing can heal without smacking up against the other side. I just need more Botox next time. So I got to do it all over again get more Botox which kind of paralyzes for vocal cord for longer. I'm very happy to be a writer, really lucky to be a writer.''